Germany's Thomas Bach elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee

Thomas Bach has been elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee.

The 59-year-old from Germany, a former Olympic fencing champion, won a comprehensive victory over five rivals in the vote in Buenos Aires.

Bach will succeed Jacques Rogge, who steps down after serving the maximum 12 years in the position.

In his victory address, Bach issued a call for harmony following an acrimonious election campaign which saw one of his rivals, Denis Oswald from Switzerland, reprimanded for his comments.

Bach told the IOC session: "Let us play together in harmony for a bright future under the leadership of the IOC.

"I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all my friends and colleagues who voted for me - this is really an overwhelming sign of trust.

"I also thank my fellow candidates who I greatly respect.

"I will work with you in the coming years and repay your confidence. I know about the great responsibility of an IOC president."

Bach won in the second round of voting - the sign of an overwhelming victory - beating closest rival Richard Carrion, the Puerto Rican who is in charge of the IOC's finances, Ser Miang Ng from Singapore, Ukraine's Sergei Bubka, Oswald - the Swiss official who oversaw London's preparations for the 2012 Games - and C-K Wu, the Taiwanese head of the international boxing federation AIBA.

During the last few days Bach was forced to deny allegations in a German TV documentary about his conduct during his days as a fencer in the 1970s - it accused Bach of wearing a wet glove to fool the electronic scoring system - plus other claims about his business activities.